Affliction Trilogy: 18 Bout Swan Song?

With the addition of the Gomi bout to the card, this pushes it up to 18 fights, with maybe less than half making it on-air. It doesn't seem wise for a company with exorbitant contracts, limited marketing, and whose business model relies heavily on PPV revenue, to pay at least 16-18 additional fighters wages. It would appear to be more sensible to split the card up into two events. I know it will be hard for them to wean themselves from a Fedor main event, but it can and should be done. I just don't see this promotion lasting with currently operating procedures. Could this event be their last hurrah before riding off into the sunset?

-OUT-

sclasclemski

7/6/09 7:24:38PM

I have been saying for awhile that this will probably/hopefully be the end of Affliction...I think there is a great need for many promotions throughout the world...but I honestly think there should only be a couple large scale ones...right now Affliction is spreading the action out too thin....Strikeforce would benefit greatly from the dissolving of Affliction...hopefully picking up many of their fighters...and of course the UFC could grab up some choice names as well (no need to name names). Afflictions fight cards have been far and few between and I would be happy to see Stikeforce get a little bigger so they can put on some more cards (maybe a couple that don't include Nick Diaz).

DCRage

7/6/09 8:25:46PM

Actually, it only has 12 fights as of today and likely won't be adding anymore, they're about filled up on plans as it is:2 prelim fights that will only be seen by the live crowd5 TV fights to air on HDNet over probably 2 hours5 PPV fights including Fedor-Barnett which is 5 roundsThat's already 5-6 hours as it is, so I don't see them adding any more unless the HDNet portion of the card is 3 hours.

Rush

7/7/09 2:06:34PM

Posted by sclasclemski

I have been saying for awhile that this will probably/hopefully be the end of Affliction...I think there is a great need for many promotions throughout the world...but I honestly think there should only be a couple large scale ones...right now Affliction is spreading the action out too thin....Strikeforce would benefit greatly from the dissolving of Affliction...hopefully picking up many of their fighters...and of course the UFC could grab up some choice names as well (no need to name names). Afflictions fight cards have been far and few between and I would be happy to see Stikeforce get a little bigger so they can put on some more cards (maybe a couple that don't include Nick Diaz).

And wouldn't Strikeforce, etc. going under help Affliction? I don't see the logic for your reasoning unless there is a reason for Affliction putting on sparse shows (that I don't know about) other than the fact that they are trying to BUILD their organization off of a few top fighters. These guys can only fight so many times in a year. Three events in one year (given their size and the calibre of fighters being featured) is not bad. It's about half of the events the UFC put on per year back when Zuffa took over, but Affliction doesn't have the luxury of being the big (and almost only) kid on the block. Remeber that back around when Pride was big, the UFC and Pride were pretty much separate entities, meaning that fighters were more or less exclusive to one or the other.

Also, up until very recently Strikeforce has had main cards that consist of UFC leftovers and unknown fighters.

I mean, I aggree that I would like to see about 3 big organizations each with their own stock of top fighters, but I don't see any reason to say Stikefore should be the one over Affliction. I think the important thing to focus on would be organizations that sign fighters for smaller fight durations, which allow them to move around to other orgs if they want.

sclasclemski

7/7/09 5:04:26PM

Posted by Rush

Posted by sclasclemski

I have been saying for awhile that this will probably/hopefully be the end of Affliction...I think there is a great need for many promotions throughout the world...but I honestly think there should only be a couple large scale ones...right now Affliction is spreading the action out too thin....Strikeforce would benefit greatly from the dissolving of Affliction...hopefully picking up many of their fighters...and of course the UFC could grab up some choice names as well (no need to name names). Afflictions fight cards have been far and few between and I would be happy to see Stikeforce get a little bigger so they can put on some more cards (maybe a couple that don't include Nick Diaz).

And wouldn't Strikeforce, etc. going under help Affliction? I don't see the logic for your reasoning unless there is a reason for Affliction putting on sparse shows (that I don't know about) other than the fact that they are trying to BUILD their organization off of a few top fighters. These guys can only fight so many times in a year. Three events in one year (given their size and the calibre of fighters being featured) is not bad. It's about half of the events the UFC put on per year back when Zuffa took over, but Affliction doesn't have the luxury of being the big (and almost only) kid on the block. Remeber that back around when Pride was big, the UFC and Pride were pretty much separate entities, meaning that fighters were more or less exclusive to one or the other.

Also, up until very recently Strikeforce has had main cards that consist of UFC leftovers and unknown fighters.

I mean, I aggree that I would like to see about 3 big organizations each with their own stock of top fighters, but I don't see any reason to say Stikefore should be the one over Affliction. I think the important thing to focus on would be organizations that sign fighters for smaller fight durations, which allow them to move around to other orgs if they want.

Fair enough....the reason that I get behind Strikeforce is because they have a showtime/cbs deal that means they have more opportunity to get the fights out there...whether it be up and comers...has beens...or whomever they deem to be their big boys...I guess bottomline is I don't want Affliction to fail so much as I believe that in doing so it will help get Strikefore to the point where they can just exist alongside the UFC as opposed to competing to survive....right now if there are too many big fish then only one will survive (UFC)...however right now the fighter pool seems to, in my humble and internet informed opinion, be only large enough to really support the UFC and one other organization successfully....in time I see the need for another org to be a nation/worldwide promoter...but for now I think Strikeforce is the horse to get behind...I just don't want to see them go the way of EliteXC...I like having many organizations and I wish the UFC was open to inter mingling with them in a sort of MMA superbowl...but that will probably never happen.

kingkicker

7/14/09 4:39:25PM

i just checked the my fantacy picks and it shows about 19 fights ?

bootyclause

7/23/09 11:42:58PM

the fantasy is combined with Sengoku...theres only 12 Afflcition fights which is a normal amount.

mk1630

7/24/09 12:18:52PM

Does anybody know which fights will be on hdnet and which will be on ppv? And where can you watch the fights from hdnet online? Because i dont get it anymore...